TVB actress Flora Chan Wai (known as “Wai Gor”), Miss Asia 1996, once stepped away from the screen for four years due to her first marriage. After returning to Hong Kong in 2012 and signing with TVB, she steadily rose from supporting roles to become one of the station’s leading actresses. Recently, her powerful performance opposite Jessica Hsuan in the anniversary drama After the Tower has been widely praised.
In a recent Behind the Spotlight interview, Flora opened up about her late parents, expressing deep regret. She shared that her mother passed away from liver cancer years ago, and her 90-year-old father also died unexpectedly three years ago, which forced her to postpone her wedding.
She held back tears as she recalled her memories with them, admitting she had spent far too little time with her parents due to work. Even now, she sometimes wakes up crying after dreaming about them.
Her father had encouraged her to join beauty pageants since she was 18 and even brought home the Miss Hong Kong application form. Although she was too shy to apply at the time, she eventually joined Miss Asia while studying accounting in Zhuhai — and won the title, officially entering the entertainment industry.
Her father was thrilled, but her mother worried constantly. To keep her mother from staying up late waiting for her, Flora moved out, unknowingly shortening the time she could have spent with her family.
As the youngest daughter, she was deeply loved at home. Even during ATV’s struggling years or during her four-year break from showbiz after marriage problems surfaced, she hid her worries from her parents.
She recalled:
“My mother was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2009 and passed away in 2011. I took her to Taiwan for treatment and stayed by her side. She saw clearly how my ex-husband and I were getting along, and she once told me, ‘If it doesn’t work, just separate.’ Hearing that changed everything for me.”
After her divorce in 2012, Flora returned to Hong Kong and signed with TVB. For years, before meeting her now-husband — Dr. Chan Kwok Keung — she felt emotionally defeated.
She admitted,
“I met my husband when I was 47. At that time I thought no one would want me anymore, so I buried myself in work.”
The two met while she was filming Forensic Heroes 4, introduced by actor Joel Chan.
Flora shared several touching moments, including the time she suffered severe menstrual cramps on set and nearly fainted. After asking Dr. Chan what medicine to take, he unexpectedly showed up at her home with medication and a bowl of congee. Their relationship blossomed from there.
Before their marriage, Dr. Chan also cared for her elderly father, who struggled with sciatica. Though Flora was busy filming, he travelled from Tseung Kwan O to Tuen Mun during breaks to treat and look after her father. This left a lasting impression on her.
Reflecting on her first marriage, Flora believes the main issue was lack of communication. With her current husband, openness and honesty became their strongest foundation.
She joked that although she had already “recognized him as the one,” he only proposed on her 48th birthday — a little late in her eyes.
Regarding having children, Flora answered frankly:
“He already has children, and I’ve never thought much about having kids myself. We’re very free and comfortable living just the two of us.”
